In the News: China Issues World's First Binding Decision on AI Infringing Copyright; US Considers Restrictions on Use of Chinese Electrical Vehicles; and Tough Penalties for Seed IP Violations

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Chinese Court Rules First Copyright Case Against AI Platform

In a decision dated February 8, the Guangzhou Internet Court released a ruling against an AI-powered generator, stating that it was liable for infringing copyright from the Japanese science fiction media franchise Ultraman, by enabling its users to generate "identical or substantially similar" images to those from Tsuburaya Productions' series via text prompts. It is alleged that the AI platform had exceeded its exclusive rights to use, reproduce, adapt works, etc. based on images from the Ultraman franchise. The defendant argued that it was not responsible for training the AI model which is accused of the breach as it was acquired from a third-party provider. Therefore, the AI platform should be exempted from liability. This is China's first copyright infringement case by artificial intelligence ("AI")-generated services and the first to apply AI-specific regulations, the Tentative Measures for the Administration of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (生成式人工智能服务管理暂行办法) , enacted in China last year.